


Initializing: Project Gestalt

by NeoQwerty



Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: AIOS Is Sotha Nall, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Sotha Sil Expanded (Morrowind Mod), Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal Spoilers, Elder Scrolls Online: Clockwork City Spoilers, Gen, Pre-Sotha Sil Expanded (Morrowind Mod), The Nerevarine Breaks Fate Like I Break Quest Lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26935285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoQwerty/pseuds/NeoQwerty
Summary: Almalexia was coming.With her, a small piece of a Hero who can write Destiny into a new shape through his actions.Sotha Sil's fate might yet be circumvented.
Relationships: Sotha Nall & Sotha Sil
Kudos: 2





	Initializing: Project Gestalt

Prospect: Almalexia.

One of the ways his life would end. Over the last few years, AIOS and he had calculated, and recalculated his odds. His city was dying. Slowly, surely, falling into disrepair and stasis, untenable without skilled minds and hands to repair them with. The mortals within its bounds were failing their assigned task, refusing to operate as they had when they'd first come into the city.

He could not fight their battle for them. Luciana had paid the price for that first non-action, and his heart had ached for her, for Marius, but to interfere would have stolen Marius' chances, those of the other brilliant minds. And in _every component of his being_ , he could not bring himself to save someone, not if it meant murdering the potential chance of the Apostles realizing that he _desired_ for them to take the City's destiny into their own hands. But they had not, they had turned to him when he hadn't _wanted_ to become...

Foolish murder-siblings, for playing at being gods, for embracing their stolen natures and pressing it so deep within their people that even here, even in his creation, he could not flee from their reach. Despite rejecting the title of a god, rejecting ALM and VI, rejecting their idea of control that was really naught but stagnation, he could not escape. He was captive of that single action, so long ago, of wondering, of thinking naively that they could harness the power of the Heart, of _trusting lovers_ over Nerevar's seemingly superstitious fears, borne of a phantom's cautionary whispers.

All he could do was to move forward, accept the sequence and tighten the bolts, and brave the future ALMSIVI's natures had wrought. A future of death and corpses, a story beginning with Almalexia's birth, with a narrative written by Vivec, and ending in the death of Sotha Sil.

But he had hopes left, foolish and fragile thought they were. A star willingly stolen from the heavens, grown by machines, and an idle, impotent fancy of reclaiming the City from the neglect, his own and his followers'. The first far more than the last, and he needed the Artificial Heart to power the last of her development; she had drained his body of every remnant of divinity that he had to nourish her with. Mnemoli, _Memory_ , would _not_ be a life wasted through inaction. Clever daughter of the Architect, of the Clockmaker, he would _not_ let her be unmade by his death.

Seal the Heart Chamber, lock her existence into being, 200 to make her the Mistress of the Wheels of Lull and all else that had originally been meant for Anuvanna'si, endeavor now lying dead in the waters. Recycle the parts, leaving them for her to reconfigure, and have hopes that she will improve on her ancestors' failures.

A rounding error. 7 more years until fabrication, 7 less days for Almalexia's intrusion. How? Something has broken. Moved out of order. He hasn't made mistakes in his calculations in many centuries, and AIOS never failed...

**"AIOS? Why were our calculations off?"**

_"Dreaming... blood dripping on the floor... the light of searing fire in my eyes... Unknown... interference...?"_

She sounded _unsure_ , so much more like _Nall_ that his heart found itself aching at the reminder, and sorrow and fondness gripped him tight. He gave a small sigh, the only outward manifestation of his emotions, and eyed his mortal hand, gnarled and bony, nails so long they curved like a Hunger's claws, flexing it. One last wonder, one more indulgence...

**"AIOS. _Identify it._ Remain focused, sister. Every sequence..."**

_"Contains absolute truth. Acknowledged. Dreaming... Brave Little Scrib scoffed at Kwama Warrior... Gentle patter of rain on stained glass... A fishing line pulled taut... Unknown. It is _unknown_ , Sil. Mutant. Unstable. _Chaos_. Expectations defied. Trace amounts detected on the Mazed Band of Barilzar. Item currently in possession of threat: Almalexia."_

But that was _impossible_. He'd only seen agents of Chaos twice: in the Planemeld, Nirn's natural response against her invaders being to create the numiditudes of "Soul Vestiges" required to retaliate, and then in the Warp in the West, and there it had only been one. Chaos was not a _natural_ state of the world, but a foreign influence...

**"Daedric readings?"**

_"Inconclusive. Daedric and Aedric readings detected, identification unavailable without source."_

Aurbis. A well of potentials, impossible to predict. And there was one who'd been _in contact_ with both Almalexia and pitiable, admirable Barilzar. Not only an agent of Chaos, but a _Prisoner_. Someone with innate ability to defy fate and change the world, not by stealing power, but by their very existence unchained by nature and sequence. _Maybe_ given life and agency, given Will.

And yet, his nature was chaining him.

Is it?

He's _thinking_ of stepping outside his sequence now.

And his protests that he couldn't change seem more toothless than these rebel-thoughts.

Almalexia had brought the dripping chaos into a placid pond, and it was now _rippling_ , distorting the images for the smallest moments. But that was _enough_.

**"AIOS. ...Nall. I want to finish Protocol: Gestalt. Take me to my Dome. Keep assembling the Lockbox and charge the seal layers I already designed. I'll come back to it after Gestalt is active."**

_"Affirmative. Good luck, brother."_

He would defy his fate. The Clockwork King would not stay passive any longer. A new sequence was being created, and he would assist Chaos in assembling it _properly_ , with _clear_ sight.


End file.
